Love Shared Is Multiplied
by LStarrunner
Summary: Ch2! A day in the life of Blue & the Twins: something is going on with Sunstreaker that affects Sideswipe. Bluestreak notices, steady in his love & patience. MorMA.G1.Slash. Leads to both chapters of Focus of the Sun, uploaded separately to retain rating.
1. Love Shared is Multiplied

Title: _Love Shared Is Multiplied_

Universe: loosely G1 cartoon.

Rating: R.

Pairing: Bluestreak/Sideswipe leading to Bluestreak/Sideswipe/Sunstreaker. References to Sunstreaker/Sideswipe and each with others.

Author's Notes: I wish they were all my mechs. I could share them with you! If you recognize it from canon, it's not mine. This was an entry for the First Times challenge at Mecha Erotica in January. 2600 words.

-:-radio transmission-:-

* * *

"You haven't been yourself today you haven't made one joke or talked about anything fun what's wrong Sideswipe?" Bluestreak asked after registering that Sideswipe made only monosyllabic answers to everything he said as they traveled. This was one of those rare occasions when both of them had the entire day free, not meaning twenty-four hours in a row, which was fairly common, going from noon to noon every few days was nice in its own right, but an entire day, midnight to midnight, so they could go out and enjoy the sunlight on their plating. They planned to make this one special, going down to the ocean away from everyone. Bluestreak was his normal talkative self, but even before they got on the freeway he knew something was not right with Sideswipe.

Sideswipe was quiet for a few minutes. Bluestreak fought to keep his vocalizer still, wanting to be patient and wait on Sideswipe to fill the silence and answer his question. They turned off the paved road onto a park ranger access track. As soon as they rounded a bend in the little gravel road and were out of view of the meager traffic, they transformed. Sideswipe stood still, an odd look on his face, pained and thoughtful, directed toward the rocks under his feet. Bluestreak stood near him but did not touch him, waiting to hear his answer. He was nearly bursting with more questions, needing to say something, to hear a vocalizer and not just the lapping waves on the rocks, when Sideswipe finally answered. "It's Sunstreaker, Blue." He glanced at Bluestreak then away.

Bluestreak took that as encouragement and held his hand out to Sideswipe, stroking the plating of his forearm with his fingertips. He stepped closer, halving the distance between them. "Sunstreaker's often wrong it's just part of his nature to be contrary and argumentative. If he said something mean I'm sure he didn't intend to hurt your feelings not really he just wanted a rise out of you. You can tell me about it you know I won't tell anyone else. This is our day we can do anything you want to do while we're away from the Ark I don't have to be back until midnight so we can even watch the sunset over the ocean and spend time under the stars together. Don't let Sunstreaker drag you down he'd want you to enjoy your day off." He smiled brightly at Sideswipe and trailed his fingers down to the fighter's larger hand, entwining their fingers and pulling Sideswipe's hand toward him.

Sideswipe met Bluestreak's optics and squeezed the fingers holding his, slowly turning to fully face Bluestreak. He found Bluestreak's free right hand with his left and stepped into his lover, bowing his head slightly to let their helmets touch. The pale morning sunlight washed over them, warming their chilled dermal plating. Bluestreak allowed his engine to turn over, generating a little extra heat in the cool morning air while he tried to be patient and give Sideswipe time to respond. He massaged Sideswipe's rough hands with his thumbs, slow circles with little pressure.

"Please talk to me," he said when he could not be patient any longer, "you know that if you don't talk to me then I have to talk. I would rather listen and I want to hear what you have to say tell me what your brother's done to get you down."

Slowly, a smile formed on Sideswipe's lip components. It was uncomfortable, but it was there. It affected Bluestreak as Sideswipe's private smiles always did; he had to cycle his cooling system faster. Sideswipe straightened then, and turned his face to the sun, optics off. He shook his head in the human gesture of negation, smile relaxing as he made up his mind to explain. "It's not anything he's done or said. Sunstreaker is-" he stopped and looked back at Bluestreak. His smile turned sad, "He's lonely. And he's been lonely long enough that he's depressed. Blaster was just a flash in a firefight, Blue, and probably couldn't have held Sunny's attention if he wanted to. Not that being dumped by Blaster helped him not be lonely, you know. And he was in recharge when we left and he'll be on duty when we get back, so he won't have anybody to talk to today who'll actually listen to him. He's probably up by now and playing Grand Theft Auto. By himself. Mostly bored and lonely."

Bluestreak let go of Sideswipe's hands and hugged him. "He's depressed so you're depressed and feeling guilty for leaving him by himself. He's part of you I know that so why don't you invite him here with us? I bet if you radioed the Ark Seaspray would patch you through to your room on the comm." Looking up into Sideswipe's optics, he was rewarded with a true smile.

"You don't mind?" Sideswipe asked.

"You share a spark with him so he is half of you and you already know I love you." Bluestreak paused to kiss Sideswipe's cheek. He continued, tone as serious as he was capable of being, "Love shared is multiplied."

-X-X-X-

It took Sunstreaker less than ninety minutes to drive out to meet them. Sideswipe didn't think the day could get any better than spending it with his closest friends. But Bluestreak meant what he said, treating Sunstreaker as he treated Sideswipe, friendly and open as they climbed around the rocks and the cliff. He overlooked tone and language when Sunstreaker spoke, responding to the core of anything he said. They stayed out of the cold water after figuring out that it was colder than the spring air; they enjoyed the openness of the area and not having to be in auto-mode so far from the Ark. Sideswipe was sure Bluestreak was making progress with Sunny: he even won an open smile from him when he found a sea-creature that had the same golden hue as Sunstreaker and made a long-winded joke about Sideswipe and the creature being 'switched at birth'. "...This has to be your actual twin Sunstreaker Sideswipe's an impostor!"

At ten-thirty Sunstreaker growled. "Slag! I've got to go. Stupid fragging comm duty."

As he started to pick his way in the direction of the first flat piece of ground, Bluestreak surprised both twins by giving Sunstreaker an enthusiastic hug. "Be careful driving back now and don't be down any more because we love you and you don't have to be alone if you don't want to be."

The affection surprised Sunstreaker. He returned the hug, casting a questioning look to Sideswipe. Sideswipe almost laughed when Bluestreak planted a good-bye kiss on his brother's lips before letting him go. Sunstreaker overcame his shock quickly and muttered something unintelligible before high-tailing it away from there.

"I think you scared him," Sideswipe said, walking up beside Bluestreak, who looked a little hurt. He draped one arm casually across Bluestreak's shoulders. "I'm the only one who's ever told him I love him."

Bluestreak turned into him, hurt expression fleeting, changing to the content look Sideswipe was used to seeing when they were alone. He wrapped his arms around Sideswipe's waist, still watching the direction of Sunstreaker's departure. "That's too bad everyone should be told they're loved he'll just have to get used to it. Wait did you mean to say that you are the only one who's ever told him you love him ever?"

Sideswipe nodded. Bluestreak continued, "Primus it's not like he's a stone I know he's been in relationships what happened? Has he just been that unlucky in choosing companions?" Bluestreak looked up at him.

The only answer Sideswipe could give: "He's been pursued by everyone, all his life, so he just waits for whomever he's interested in to approach him. Sometimes they do; sometimes they don't. But by the time they find the manifolds to talk to him, they want one thing from him. Or, worse: they're so used to the image they have of him that they run away as soon as he shows that he's a real person, not just the beautiful-terrible fighting machine."

Bluestreak kissed Sideswipe, pressing their bodies together, optics powered down. Breaking the kiss to lead Sideswipe toward the only boulder big enough to allow the two of them to sit together in the sun, he said, "You told me you two have entertained and sustained each other but I didn't understand before. You've been lovers as well as brothers and closer than anyone who isn't spark-bonded right?"

Sideswipe nodded, pulled along by Bluestreak's words as well as the tug of his hand. He doubted he wanted to know where Bluestreak was going with this line of thought. Three partners in his life had known about that aspect of his relationship with Sunstreaker and two of them left him soon after learning about it. The other one had not been the least bit concerned, understanding that the mech she loved really only possessed half of his own spark. She stayed with him; they talked about spark-bonding before she was destroyed in battle. Sideswipe let that memory go and answered the mech before him. "Yes."

"Well my beautiful-terrible fighting machine you can't let me come between you and Sunstreaker and make him lonely and depressed. When he's depressed you're sad because he's part of you and I love you and don't want any part of you to be unhappy." They reached the place Bluestreak wanted to be. He turned around to catch hold of Sideswipe, again wrapping his arms around Sideswipe's waist. The warrior's arms automatically wrapped his shoulders and he rested his head on Sideswipe's shoulder. "Invite him to be with us Sideswipe don't leave him out of what we do together he needs us," he said quietly. "He needs you and you need him and I well I may not need you but I want you and I love you and I know my life is better with you in it."

Sideswipe could not believe he heard that right. "You mean like when we hang out or play games or just go driving, right?" That had to be what Bluestreak meant, and he knew it would help. He smiled against Bluestreak's cheek. "Thank you! That should do him a lot of good-"

Bluestreak spoke over him, engine beginning to purr again, "Yes but," he playfully kissed a seam he knew was sensitive in Sideswipe's neck. "I mean more than that Sides," he mouthed along the place where Sideswipe's helmet met his neck. "-you're a tactile bot and that means he is too so being lonely for him isn't just about company," he rubbed the small of Sideswipe's back with his hands, working skilled fingers under the edge of his armor. "-it's about physicality and intimacy." Bluestreak ghosted his lips over Sideswipe's jawline as his fingertips graced the sensors they were seeking, finally eliciting the response he wanted: the Lamborghini's engine turned over with a lurch.

Sideswipe made an appreciative sound, returning the caresses to Bluestreak's helm and the top edge of his door-wings. "Are you sure, Blue? Oh-" he stopped forming words. Bluestreak kissed him soundly.

-X-X-X-

It was early evening when they drove back to the base. Mirage's recommendation of the locale was true and the uninterrupted hours in the sun were a welcome novelty. The temperature of the area dropped quickly when the sun set and they wished they had brought some energon to top up before the chilly drive back.

Watching Bluestreak's sun-kissed face as his winglets were petted and his systems approached overload was a joy Sideswipe could not get enough of. He reviewed some images in his CPU and shuddered on his suspension as they sat at a traffic light in a small town. Bluestreak kept up his usual chatter over their encrypted radio. Most of what he said was inane, just observations of passersby or the terrain. Sideswipe did not mind: his world was coming together as never before because of Bluestreak. He had found a lover who could not only deal with his bond to his brother but was willing and eager to accept Sunstreaker as part of their relationship. He let the words wash over him.

-:-Love shared is multiplied,-:- Bluestreak was saying, commenting on a political billboard they passed. Sideswipe thought it was the shortest complete sentence Bluestreak ever said in his hearing. He seemed to enjoy saying it, and had described it as the guiding premise of his family, his city, his lost culture. -:-The humans don't see it and most Autobots don't either but I know it Sideswipe I do. Love shared is multiplied and we can share ours with Sunstreaker and make up for the time yours for each other has suffered.-:-

-X-X-X-

Twenty-four hours after Bluestreak reported for patrol that midnight, the Lamborghinis' own shared shift ended and they made their way to their quarters via the washrack and the galley.

The light was on - they could see it dimly under the edge of the door - and they heard music coming from inside. Sunstreaker flashed his twin a dark look. "What the frag?"

Sideswipe processed a tick then smiled slowly. "I bet I know-" he said but did not finish the thought, punching in the key code.

The door opened and Bluestreak stirred from one of the chairs in front of their entertainments, the television and game console. The lights were dim and Bluestreak had done something to make them flicker charmingly. The screen was blank but the DVD player was running, playing a CD of stirring music Sideswipe had never heard before. Bluestreak stood up as they walked in. He had taken some pains with his finish while they were out on patrol, so the flickering light played on it making him sparkle.

Sunstreaker thought better of being there. He stopped just inside the room. "Primus' aft, Bro', he's being all romantic at you. Blue, give me the code for your room and I'll go crash there." He looked from Bluestreak's hopeful expression to his brother's stupid moon-struck grin and stayed in precisely the right place to prevent the door from cycling closed. "You two are just too slagging much."

Bluestreak had other plans. "Oh I don't think you need that code this is your room if three's a crowd then I'm the one who should go," he said as he covered the few steps toward them. He met Sideswipe first with a hug and a kiss that promised more. Then he took Sideswipe's hand but stepped away from him, holding his other hand out to Sunstreaker. "Come in out of the cold Sunstreaker you are welcome with us."

Sunstreaker scowled, but stepped fully into the room.

At least a groon and a few field flares apiece later, Sunstreaker asked them what possessed them to draw him to them.

Sideswipe lifted his head from where he rested against Bluestreak's abdomen. "Say again, 'Bro?" he asked muzzily, and sought Sunstreaker's right hand with his own left. They rested their clasped hands on Bluestreak's still-shaking winglet.

Bluestreak's vocalizer was raspy, needing his internal repair system to condition it. The twins had tag-teamed him into overcharge, finding out that if Sunstreaker held him from behind and stroked all over his door-wings while Sideswipe kissed him and attended to his front transformation mechanisms his processors fritzed and he was unable to form words just an expectant, joyful keening. He turned his head slightly as he lay back against the broad yellow chest to answer tranquilly, "Love shared is multiplied."


	2. Company Gladly Kept

Title: _Company Gladly Kept, _sequel to _Love Shared is Multiplied_, immediately between _Down to the Casing_ and _What Moves the Sun._

Rating: NC-17 for detailed physical intimacy between mechanical beings, including plug-n-play.  
Author's Notes: Thanks to Rusty Chevy for invaluable beta. This was an entry for the Bedroom Voice challenge in September 2008 at MechaErotica. 4820 words.

-:-radio transmission-:-

* * *

Bluestreak liked to talk.

Bluestreak liked to talk a lot.

Sometimes, Bluestreak liked to talk about interfacing, especially when he was alone with Sideswipe and not in a circumstance to physically express himself.

Usually, Sideswipe did not think this was a bad thing in the least. But out on patrol, with more than half of the watch period remaining was not the time to be having _those_ thoughts, _that_ set of sense-memories, brought to the front of his mind.

He felt like his own processor betrayed him: autonomically (or at least, unconsciously), his systems shifted slightly to match the cadence of Bluestreak's speech. _He doesn't even know he's doing it,_ Sideswipe thought, focusing his attention on the dim headlights in his rear view mirrors, _his interface voice is the same as his normal speaking voice, except for the-_ he lost the thought before he could find the word he wanted.

-:- -you do know what I'd rather be doing don't you Sideswipe?-:- Bluestreak was saying, little pauses breaking up his characteristic speech.

_Yes! Yes I do!_ wanted to leap out of his own radio, but Sideswipe did not answer immediately: he needed Bluestreak to stop for a moment, to pause and give him a chance to get hold of his systems that all wanted to be doing precisely what Bluestreak had been talking about. -:-I- can guess,-:- he allowed slowly, consciously striving to break the rhythm of Bluestreak's speech. Something in the hum of Bluestreak's engine told him he wasn't going to stop that particular tide from coming in, though. _You're going to tell me anyway, aren't you?_ he thought.

A treasonous part of him, the part that egged him on to go ahead and swap duty with Mirage, taking this patrol despite having just spent twelve hours on his own rotation with Sunstreaker, was eager for Bluestreak to keep going.

Bluestreak was true to his nature. -:-I'd like to latch our bumpers together so I can feel every rev of your engine against my plating. I'd have my hands under the armor of your hips just above that sensor node that makes your legs shake and I'd hold you up- -:-

Sideswipe's engine revved high and he whipped around in a tight U-turn to the side of the road, lucky there was no other traffic on the little two-lane state highway in these pre-dawn hours.

Bluestreak had not stopped transmitting yet, -:- -when they gave out- -:-

Transforming, Sideswipe looked down at the Datsun as he skidded to a halt at his feet. Placing one hand on the roof of the little car, he growled, "Do you have any idea what you do to me?"

Bluestreak transformed slowly, which transferred Sideswipe's hand to his grill as he stood up, unfolding from helpless auto-mode to biped without losing his train of thought, transitioning from transmitter to vocalizer as he did, "-and feel the current dance across your skin until your field can't hold the energy." He paused, looking up into Sideswipe's bright optics. He answered the rhetorical question, "Yes I do Sides and I hope you don't wanna wait because I've been feeling _that_ vibe from you since we met for turnover and oh Primus I can't don't make me wait."

Sideswipe fairly loomed over Bluestreak, but Bluestreak drove their interaction now. He stepped into the storm, static leaping from Sideswipe to him in little pin-pricks of blue spark. Trailing his fingers along either edge of the Lamborghini's hood he traced the transformation seams that ran down the sides of Sideswipe's torso, bringing his hands to rest on the armor plates he'd mentioned earlier. Sideswipe held Bluestreak by the sides of his helmet and kissed him firmly, bowing his head down to bring their mouths together.

The purr of Bluestreak's engine joined the rumble of Sideswipe's. Long-range sensors active, Bluestreak noted a car approaching from a mile out. Thinking quickly, he drew Sideswipe into the tall conifers at the side of the road. Sideswipe stopped kissing him only long enough to register what he was doing. They cut their lights; the car passed their location without slowing.

Bluestreak backed Sideswipe up against a trio of sturdy cedars, neither of them concerned for the snapping of branches as they leaned into the wood. Returning to his original desire, Bluestreak slid his bumper up under Sideswipe's, effectively pinning the warrior against the wall of trees.

Sideswipe could get away easily if he wanted to, either by pushing Bluestreak away or by breaking down the wood, but the thought never entered his CPU. He arched into the smaller mech, enjoying the sensations of the gunner's nimble fingers teasing his sensor net from his thighs to his shoulders. His systems thrummed. He reached out and caught the top edge of Bluestreak's winglets. "Blue-"

"Gently," Bluestreak breathed, pausing from where he'd been kissing along the lip of Sideswipe's hood. He gave his door-wings a little shake, away from and back into Sideswipe's grasp.

"I know Blue," Sideswipe murmured, "I won't hurt you." Then, "Oh Primus! Bluestreak-" he said as Bluestreak found the pair of sensor nodes in his hips. Current rippled across his chest and down his sides like sunlight over water, washing over Bluestreak as a preview of what he was building toward. "Blue-streak-"

Bluestreak watched Sideswipe's face. Optics off, head resting back against a tree branch, he looked both content and in need, both expectant and fulfilled. "Let it go Sideswipe I've got you I can take it let me feel your engine race-" Sideswipe couldn't stop that if he wanted to, "-and let your field flare out over me."

Bluestreak punctuated his speech with caresses of those sensor hubs that had such dramatic effect on the motor relays in Sideswipe's thighs.

He shook on trembling legs, cables in his knees going slack by degrees, hydraulics losing pressure steadily. "Oh Primus Blue!" he gasped.

Bluestreak held him up, as strong as any mech, small and wiry-seeming only in comparison to his lover, reinforced every time Sideswipe cried his name.

"Bluestreak-!"

-X-X-X-

When they resumed their patrol, they were both speckled with sap. Sideswipe's windshield, rear window and main intakes were particularly spattered, the sap somehow less able to stick to his painted surfaces.

-:-I guess that wax Sunstreaker likes so much really is worth the effort to get it,-:- he commented when Bluestreak expressed relief that it didn't look like he'd done any lasting damage to the Lamborghini's red finish. -:-I'll have to hit the wash as soon as we get back, though.-:- He squirmed a little on his suspension as if to shift out from under the resin. -:-Pit. I can feel the stuff drying out as we drive.-:-

-:-Tree-energon is strange isn't it not like normal energon at all- -:- Bluestreak referred to the energon that flowed in their systems, internally converted from the base energon they consumed to personal fuel, hydraulic fluid and coolant. -:- -we've all had plenty of that on our plating literally and figuratively but this stuff just doesn't run off or even draw up into little pools. Weird- -:-

He kept vocalizing, back to his normal steady prattle, bedroom-voice cadence left in the little stand of slightly scorched trees where they'd released some energy. Bluestreak drove in a contented but alert state; Sideswipe turned driving over to an independent subroutine, nearly napping as he followed Bluestreak through a variation of the route. When he noticed they were on a country road he didn't recognize, he roused himself enough to ask about it: -:-Did Prowl approve this?-:- Not that he really cared if Prowl hadn't, except that it would be out of character for Bluestreak to vary that much from their task. Pausing for less than an hour was not a stretch of the rules, except for the fact that they hadn't been scouting on any suspicion of Decepticon or other nefarious activity. Deviating significantly from the patrol route with insufficient justification could get them reprimanded. Or worse, in Sideswipe's case, since it hadn't been that long since his last series of practical jokes.

-:-No he didn't but he sort of did because he turned the watchbill completely over to Mirage. Mirage decided when we were out on patrol the day before yesterday that he would change the process so that the route is up to the ones on watch. He lays out a few points that have to be included and we only have one of those left for today.-:-

-:-Huh. Okay. No one told us that,-:- he referred to the long and tedious stint he and Sunstreaker had just finished, -:-and he could have told me what they were, too.-:-

Bluestreak thought about that, letting the contented sound of his engine through to Sideswipe over the channel a moment before he explained: -:-He didn't have to because he already told me about it before we met you and Sunstreaker after your patrol. He'll never admit it but he didn't want to talk very much to either of you at all today because you were both radiating tension when you pulled up and something in his programming reads you both as predators even on your best days.-:- He paused.

Sideswipe hadn't really been listening to most of what Bluestreak said, but when he let the radio go silent, that did get his full attention. He triggered his auto-record function and replayed what it caught, from _...either of you..._ to _...reads you both as predators even on your best days._

-:-What's that, Blue?-:- he asked, -:-We're not predators!-:- It actually hurt that another Autobot might think that of him or his brother: they fought on the front-lines, risking their lives every battle for the cause, giving mechs like Mirage and Bluestreak and Red Alert and all the Minibots a chance to specialize and use other skills to greater advantage in the hope that one day none of them would have to do it anymore. They never brought that aggression home. _Not really, anyway._

-:-I know that Sides and really so does he but you have to admit lately especially today you and Sunstreaker both were tense.-:- He guided them up onto the freeway, ready to finish their patrol and be done.

-:-What do you mean?-:-

-:-You mean you haven't noticed it? Since Sunstreaker got out of medical- -:- released after their last battle with the Decepticon jets left Sideswipe dented and scratched and Sunstreaker under Ratchet's care for the better part of three days, -:- -you've both been intense Sideswipe I don't know how else to describe it but I think whatever it is it originates in Sunstreaker and you get swept along with him. The interfacing has been great but I wondered after if you two might really be using me somehow.-:-

Sideswipe would have transformed at that moment to have this discussion face to face if not for the late-morning traffic flowing in the west-bound lanes toward Portland. East-bound, there was little traffic, so he settled for speeding up to draw alongside the Datsun. -:-What?-:- he fought to keep from sounding angry, projecting as much concern as he could. -:-No, Blue! Bluestreak, I love you. We love you. I swear to Primus if anybody makes it out differently... -:-

-:-No Sideswipe I know you love me and I know Sunstreaker loves me for your sake what I'm saying is that I wonder what problem you are or he is using me to avoid dealing with. Something is going on Sideswipe and if it really isn't with you yourself or between you and him then it is has to be within him.-:- They came to their exit and got off the freeway for the last time, almost home for the noon turnover. -:-Like I said the extra time with all three of us together has been nice and the sex is great but lately when he's with us it seems like you're not really with me somehow. I have to admit I suggested Mirage take this patrol off- -:-

They sped down the one-lane road, Sideswipe in the lead and driving agitatedly. It was disturbing to him that Bluestreak might have had ulterior motives for interfacing with him, something he could simply have asked.

Bluestreak was not dissuaded from his topic: -:- -to work on the watchbills since he's been complaining that he hasn't had time to really focus on optimizing them because I wanted to have a little time with you- -:-

Sideswipe slowed down. Put that way, it didn't sound at all under-handed.

-:- -without Sunstreaker around or even on-line. I wanted to have a chance to interface with just you and see your face and make sure that in your mind,-:- Bluestreak paused. He slowed down drastically, to see if Sideswipe was paying attention and if he would slow down, too.

Sideswipe did slow down further. And he stopped.

-:-I wanted to make sure that in your mind in your spark you were really with me not imagining someone else.-:-

Sideswipe transformed. Bluestreak did not, not wanting Sideswipe to see his face just then. Sideswipe knelt down in front of the now halted Datsun and gently, with a tenderness that those who only saw him fight and pull pranks and rough-house with his twin would not have believed, set his hands on the sides of the little Japanese car. Windows down, he ran his thumbs lovingly across the window sills. "No Blue," he said, "don't ever think that of me! You. You are the center of my world, the center of my universe when we're together. Even when- No, especially when we are all three together, you have my full attention. When we're all three together, I don't have any worries about what Sunshine might be up to in the back of my mind, and no stray impulses from him because he's doing the same thing we are, and he's with me and we're with you."

"I know Sideswipe I know that now let me up," he said, wanting to transform.

Sideswipe sat back on his heels slightly away from the Datsun.

Bluestreak transformed. Sideswipe stayed kneeling there in the midday sun and reached out to Bluestreak, wrapping his arms around the slender red hips and hugging Bluestreak to him. Bluestreak held Sideswipe's helm, caressing the back of it as he rested it on Bluestreak's chest.

"Yours and Primus's, and maybe his, are the only names I can think of when we're together. Not even my own. And I could train myself away from Primus's."

Bluestreak moved to kneel with him, and Sideswipe relaxed his grip to allow it. Fitting their shoulder-mounted armaments together like a puzzle, they held each other until their internal chronometers advised them that they were about to be late for turnover.

"No need that company I'll gladly keep Sides gladly."

-X-X-X-

When they finished turnover with Cliffjumper and Beachcomber, the two Minibots headed out at a reasonable pace: Beachcomber's lackadaisical nature offset Cliffjumper's tendency to race head-long. Mirage, taking Sideswipe's stint on communications console, gave Bluestreak a knowing, but only half-disapproving look when they checked in with him: he distrusted the Lamborghinis in general but believed Bluestreak's happiness in Sideswipe's company was genuine.

The sun and the relatively dry air that morning had baked all the moisture out of the tree sap. They headed for the wash.

They were still trying to get the resin off Sideswipe's rear window and especially out of his intakes when Sunstreaker found them.

"You're too fragging chatty to be interfacing in there," he said as a means to announce his presence as he poked his head in the rear-most bay. "So what in the Pit is taking you so long? I was waiting for you slaggers to get back."

Bluestreak hadn't had that much of it on him, and it had come off easily. Sideswipe, however, had rested the majority of his weight against the freshly-broken branches, heedless of them as they bled the trees' defenses out. He sat high on his suspension in his alt-mode, giving Bluestreak the best possible access to his intakes and the intricacies of his window and vents. Bluestreak started to explain.

Sunstreaker was not prepared to let him talk. "No, I see what you've done. Frag. Primus's own energon doesn't have the staying power of this slag." Sunstreaker held out a hand to Bluestreak for the water-wand, and when Bluestreak gave it to him he put it back in its bracket. Removing a sponge from subspace, he soaked it with soapy water and started in on his brother.

Bluestreak watched.

Sunstreaker noticed. "Why don't you go put a polish on that scrap you call plating?" he said with a wicked grin, "Just make sure you leave some for later." Bluestreak knew Sunstreaker-ese well enough to translate that as _I'd like a moment alone with my brother. Help yourself to the good polish; we'll meet you in our room._

Bluestreak left, surprised that Sideswipe opened a radio channel to him before he rounded the corner leaving the washracks.

-:-Thank you, Blue. I'll let you know if I find out what's going on.-:-

Bluestreak stood a moment, knowing that if he went much farther down the corridor the signal would not reach. He sent Sideswipe back an affirmative Cybertronian tone.

Sideswipe relaxed upon receipt of it, believing Bluestreak really did understand his bond to Sunstreaker. Sharing a spark from their creation, they weren't spark-bonded, but they might as well have been. Sideswipe knew he'd been feeling particularly randy since Sunstreaker was released from - _more like kicked out of_ - medical less than a week before. He'd read it as his own sense of mortality, and relief that his brother was all right, never thinking to trace the origin of that feeling, that unusual need. Now, in his brother's well-rested and physically-attentive presence, he felt it, and recognized it as originating from that part of his spark that did not reside in his own frame. Sunstreaker _wanted_, and was not one to _ask_: beautiful and terrible, and good with his hands at more than fighting, Sunstreaker was ostensibly merely washing his twin's rear window and intake ports, but...

"Are you doing that on purpose?" Sideswipe asked, suspicious now that the relaxed and receptive mood stealing over him was not just a result of twenty-four hours on-duty - not even a full work-cycle on Cybertron! - and the stolen moments of overload with Bluestreak, but something about the way Sunstreaker was using his wheel-well for leverage as he leaned over him to scrub firmly at the sap adorning that bit of glass.

"Yeah, bro', I am washing this slag off you on purpose."

"That isn't what I meant and you know it."

Sunstreaker used the sponge to stroke the ridge that protected Sideswipe's glass. He answered with a question of his own: "Is it working?"

Sideswipe let his engine lurch once. "Do you even have to ask?"

Sunstreaker chuckled. "Do you?" he rumbled.

Sideswipe chose not to answer, feeling mellow and recognizing the mood on his brother, seeping into him as the heat from the water seeped into his plating. Then, -:-Why?-:- he asked, using the radio because it was less likely to be overheard.

Sunstreaker didn't care if anyone overheard him: "Do I fraggin' need a reason to pay attention to my own brother?"

They followed that pattern for several breems, Sideswipe trying to get Sunstreaker to at least confess to what he wanted, and Sunstreaker avoiding the topic, meticulously removing the sap from Sideswipe. Finished with his alt mode, Sunstreaker urged him to transform: "Stand the Pit up, Bro', I know damn well you didn't roll in this on four wheels."

He complied, and stood with his hands braced on the wall while Sunstreaker set to cleaning the struts and body panels that were exposed to the cedars in Sideswipe's bipedal form. Sure hands with an alternate agenda and a firm touch held him, sending the warm water over his plating, letting it run just _so_ over his chest and front while washing his back. As with the Lamborghini shape, Sunstreaker found and somehow sensitized otherwise non-erogenous points.

Then he dropped the sponge and set to tracing the seals of Sideswipe's windows, that were sensitive to the point of being ticklish under other circumstances.

That was nearly too much for Sideswipe: running low on energon, affected by his twin's nearly insatiable sex drive, forced by Bluestreak to think about it, and then subjected to Sunstreaker's hands on him, electricity fairly danced over his plating. His engine moved but he prevented it turning over. He tried to turn around, but Sunstreaker resisted him with a hand on the back of his helmet and his chestplate against Sideswipe's back. "Sun-" his vocalizer fritzed a tick with Sunstreaker roughly caressing his back. He rested his helm against the wall, bowing his head slightly. "Sunny. Let's go?"

Sunstreaker answered him, but the words were lost: Sideswipe only registered the tone of it, a husky growl that registered more in the plating of his neck than in his audios as Sunstreaker spoke with his lips brushing the exposed skin. A tremor ran down Sideswipe's frame. Sunstreaker moved away from him, turning the water off then wringing out and subspacing the sponge. Trailing fingers across Sideswipe's windshield, he walked away.

Several processor cycles later, Sideswipe shoved back from the wall and followed him.

Keying open the door to their room, Sideswipe nearly overloaded from the scene: Sunstreaker had Bluestreak in his arms and talking, both interface voices fully engaged. Bluestreak had that pattern to his speech that was what had gotten Sideswipe wound up in the first place early that morning. In counter to Bluestreak's tenor, Sunstreaker was encouraging him, using that low rumble of his that seemed to come to Sideswipe over the floor and up through his plating.

"Whatever you did to Sideswipe," Sunstreaker was saying, "keep doing it."

Sideswipe suspected that Sunstreaker, ever aware of aesthetics, had planned for him to see the two of them this way. Sunstreaker was sitting on the recharge platform nearest the door, back-lit from a light in the far wall, with Bluestreak in his lap, as if he'd just pulled the gunner there a moment before Sideswipe opened the door. Bluestreak's wings were silhouetted very clearly in front of each of Sunstreaker's sides, and Sunstreaker had his arms wrapped around Bluestreak's waist, clearly fondling hardware under his hood and keeping just enough space between his chestplate and Bluestreak's back to let Bluestreak move his wings to express the tension.

The door cycled shut.

Bluestreak arched a bit back into Sunstreaker, optics fixing quickly on Sideswipe. "-you're not with us-" he was saying, clearly in the midst of a thought begun before Sideswipe arrived. "-our relationship is the same you know we are no different with you without you 'cause you're halves of a whole."

"Mmmh, keep doing it," Sunstreaker said, "what you're doing now." He let his motor run, now that Sideswipe was there, knowing Bluestreak enjoyed the feel of it. Making optic contact with his brother over Bluestreak's right shoulder, he rubbed his chin and cheek against the empty bracket there.

Sideswipe could imagine what Sunstreaker was doing to get Bluestreak's optics to flicker and his door-wings to flex back against either of Sunstreaker's arms.

Bluestreak's hands on Sunstreaker's thighs drew Sideswipe's attention. "He's a tactile 'bot like you're a tactile 'bot-" he was saying. "-and you're in his mind as he must be in yours."

Sideswipe went and stood in front of them. He bent forward at the waist, resting his hands on his brother's shoulders, knees touching Bluestreak's. He kissed Bluestreak soundly. Bluestreak powered down his optics, focusing all his attention on his senses of touch: pressure, temperature, texture.

Vocalizer not requiring lips or glossa to function, output only muffled by their kissing, Bluestreak continued, addressing both of them. "Best when we three can be together at once 'cause you two can focus neither worrying about th' other."

"Yes, Bluestreak," Sunstreaker said in both their audios before nuzzling the side of Bluestreak's neck. Bluestreak moaned into Sideswipe's mouth. Sideswipe moved his hands across Sunstreaker's shoulder plating and along the cables of his neck, kissing Bluestreak and stroking Sunstreaker.

Sunstreaker shrugged his shoulders, a sign for Sideswipe to move his hands away as he extricated his own fingers from Bluestreak's engine compartment to caress the bottom edge of either wing. Sideswipe ghosted his fingers over the brackets on Bluestreak's shoulders and down his chest, pausing to circle both headlights, paying special attention to the recessed housing which he knew was sensitive. Bluestreak trembled in their grasp.

Sunstreaker continued to pet Bluestreak's winglets, feeling the texture of the parts that were configured to resemble the interior of a Datsun Fairlady Z's doors. He traced each handle and the latch at the outside edges before feeling his way along the window sills. Bluestreak brought his hands up and caught Sideswipe's. Sideswipe slipped one knee between Bluestreak's. Sunstreaker shifted with them, as Sideswipe broke the kiss to drop to the other knee, holding Bluestreak's hands in his own and moving to mouth the features of Bluestreak's grill. Three engines revved together.

Bluestreak tried to arch back farther toward Sunstreaker, putting his chest and midsection in easier reach of Sideswipe's mouth and pressing his wings more firmly against Sunstreaker. Sunstreaker caught him in a devouring kiss, lip components moving against Bluestreak's, glossa entwining with his.

Sideswipe's interface coverplate slipped aside, a small sound with great effect: Bluestreak relaxed back against Sunstreaker with a wordless vocalization. Sunstreaker slipped his hands back around Bluestreak's waist, nimble black fingers of his right hand finding and coaxing Bluestreak's cover open while the other reached for Sideswipe. Sideswipe edged closer, forcing both Bluestreak's and Sunstreaker's legs farther apart. Right up against Bluestreak and Sunstreaker and the edge of the recharge platform, Sideswipe pulled Bluestreak's hands to his body, to his interface hardware.

Sunstreaker caught his brother's right hand in his left while with his other hand, he extracted Bluestreak's plug from the little compartment, sensuously extending it toward Sideswipe's port. Bluestreak touched the fingers of Sunstreaker's hand, the one holding his connector, and followed along, giving his approval in that silent way, left hand tracing the edges of Sideswipe's interface housing. Cooling systems cycled at full power, pumps working to remove heat, raising the temperature of the room steadily. None of them noticed.

Sunstreaker plugged Bluestreak into his brother, and gently trailed his hand back along the cable to Bluestreak's abdomen.

Peripheral to Sideswipe, Bluestreak welcomed the presence with him in his processors. Sideswipe extended himself, enough to feel what Bluestreak felt - _the vibration of our engines through the wings_ - registering sensations that were foreign to his own body - _Sunstreaker's lips against the edge of the chevron, what's he doing?!?_

_Nibbling the edge,_ Bluestreak answered simply, shifting arousingly against Sunstreaker's plating.

Sideswipe straightened up to kiss Bluestreak's cheek and lips and chin. Sunstreaker was turning the smaller body slightly between them, so that Bluestreak's back rested more against his left arm which was reinforced by Sideswipe's right, hands now grasping forearms solidly. Bluestreak's right wing rested flush against Sunstreaker's broad chest. Sunstreaker left off stimulating the sensors near Bluestreak's interface hardware with his right hand, but brought it back quickly, as both others made a sound of protest. He plugged himself into Bluestreak so that both were peripheral to Sideswipe.

Bluestreak startled a little, on-lining his optics briefly, meeting Sunstreaker's intensely blue eyes, shining in a dark hue.

Sideswipe had the odd sensation of being within all their processors: seeing Bluestreak from his own and Sunstreaker's points of view, and seeing himself and Sunstreaker from Bluestreak's.

The sensory input was too much to sustain for long. Sideswipe's engine redlined and several internal alarms demanded his attention. He ignored them.

Three fields merged into one. Engines roaring in the confined space, they found a resonance that shook all three frames as one.

"Bluestreak," Sideswipe breathed, but used both his and his brother's voices.

Sunstreaker wished it, and Sideswipe noticed, so he leaned forward a little farther and kissed him, lip components mirrored, matching perfectly. Power from Sunstreaker, the only one who'd had a chance to recharge since his watch period, flowed through Bluestreak to Sideswipe, sharing energy out between the three linked electrical systems.

Petting Bluestreak's winglets now stirred little field flares from each of them.

Heard in all their processors, none of them knew who originated it as very calmly, a thought stated the obvious: _I'm going into overload._

After recovering themselves, Sunstreaker left to bring some energon back to his exhausted brother and their lover. As the door closed behind him, it occurred to Sideswipe that he still had no idea what might be going on in the yellow terror's mind to put them both into overdrive.


End file.
